"You should kill yourself."
The words echoed in a filthy alley choked with oily pipes, tangled electrical wires, and crumbling brick. A young man sat slumped on the ground, his back pressed against a wall, his world reduced to the patch of cracked concrete between his feet.
His head hung low, a lifeless weight on his shoulders.
The sun was a searing eye directly overhead, bleaching the alley in harsh, unforgiving light.
"I know it's a shock," the voice continued, "but I genuinely believe the best course of action for you right now would be to kill yourself."
The young man didn't look up.
Perched on a small, rusted metal box was a disheveled rat. It scratched its snout with a tiny paw, its beady eyes wide as it tried to meet the man's downcast gaze.
"Listen," the rat said, hopping down from the box and padding closer. "We both know what happened. I'm not suggesting suicide without a logical basis, you know?"
As the creature neared, a flicker of life returned to the young man's eyes. He looked up, his gaze suddenly sharp and intense.
The rat's eyes widened. It rose onto its hind legs, taking a hesitant step back. "Calm down, Leo. I'm not going to hurt you," it squeaked, forcing a nervous smile. "Look at me. I'm just a rat. How could I possibly hurt someone who passed the Flux Conduit Test?"
The boy, Leo, let his gaze fall back to the ground.
When he was staring at nothing, Leo looked like just another frail vagrant. But the moment his eyes had locked onto the rat, his entire presence had shifted, becoming coiled and dangerous.
In truth, Leo’s body was anything but frail. He wasn’t bulky, but four years of brutal training had carved his muscles into sharp definition—all in the hope of clawing his way out of the Scraps.
"Hey, Leo," the rat said, keeping its distance. "I know you're holding onto some hope, but we both know that's just delusional. A fickle light in the dark."
The rat began to circle him slowly, never daring to get too close. "For four years, you worked yourself to the bone. You trained every day. You even did… terrible things, just to avoid paying the Flesh Toll."
"You hated it, but you did it anyway. Why? Because you saw a way out of the Scraps."
"And you did it! You earned a spot in the Flux Conduit Test for Vector Industries, and you even passed!" the rat chirped with manufactured enthusiasm.
Then, its tone dropped, and it sighed. "But your Flux Attuner was already attuned to a Echo. You passed the exam, but Vector Industries can't use a Flux Conduit with a pre-synchronized device."
"And you know they're not the only ones," the rat said, stopping to Leo's right. "No Flux Corporation will hire you. You know as well as I do that every company uses specific Specters for their Extractors. Without the right abilities, you’ll either die quickly or cost them more than you're worth."
"So, what now?" the rat asked, its expression turning sympathetic. "What's the plan?"
"You have no education."
"You have no contacts."
"You have no place to live."
"You don't even remember your life before you were ten."
"The gangs won't take you; you made a point of refusing to pay their fees."
"There's no way out."
"Are you sure you want to keep living like this?" the rat asked, its voice laced with a pained sadness.
"I don't want to see you suffer every day."
The rat crept forward, its movements slow and deliberate.
As it did, pairs of glittering eyes appeared in the darkness behind the sewer grates lining the alley. They watched, patient and excited.
Leo remained motionless, his gaze fixed on the grimy ground.
"Don't you just want to rest?" the rat whispered, inching closer. "Every night, you sleep with one eye open, terrified that something—or someone—will attack you."
"You don't have a single friend. No family."
"What's the point of fighting?"
"What's the point of living?"
"And now, your last hope is gone."
The rat looked at Leo with a gaze full of pity.
"Trust me. I've talked to millions of people. I know a hopeless situation when I see one."
"I can make it quick, painless. I can even pay a special visit to a few people you dislike, if you want."
"At least this way, you can go out on your own terms, instead of starving to death."
"Your death would finally have a purpose."
The rat was now so close it could touch Leo’s leg.
From behind the grates, the other rats slipped out into the alley, silent as shadows, but they kept their distance. The key was not to trigger a fight-or-flight response. Adrenaline could reignite the dying embers in the black hole of a man's chest. This required a slow, careful, methodical touch.
"Just lie down, okay?" the rat cooed. "I'm just going to touch your leg now. Don't be afraid. I won't do anything."
It slowly extended a claw toward Leo's worn trousers.
A fist blurred through the air, smashing the rat into a paste of blood and fur.
In the next instant, every other rat vanished back into the sewer.
The fist unclenched. Leo’s fingers closed around the mangled remains. He produced a filthy, disgusting brown sack and dropped the carcass inside.
A moment later, he straightened his back, his spine popping, and took a deep, shuddering breath.
"This sucks," he said, his voice a low rumble.
But then, a small, wry smile touched his lips as he lifted the sack.
"But at least dinner is secured."
Suddenly, Leo’s eyes narrowed. He shot to his feet, his body tensing as he glared toward one of the alley's exits.
A muscular man in a black coat and a matching black hat had appeared there, leaning against the wall. A mysterious smirk played on his lips as he watched Leo with open amusement.
"What do you want?" Leo demanded, his voice harsh and threatening. He’d seen enough men like this to know that their casual confidence spelled trouble.
"I don't buy drugs, miracle cures, Specters, Flux, or whatever else you're selling," Leo said.
His eyes widened for a second, and he quickly hid the brown sack behind his back. "And I'm not selling you the rat!"
The man seemed momentarily taken aback, then let out a low chuckle.
"Your rat? You think I'm here for your rat?" he asked, the smirk deepening.
Leo eyed him with suspicion. "I'm not buying anything! And it's rude to enter someone's home unannounced."
"Home?" the man repeated, confused, as his eyes scanned the grimy alley. His gaze eventually settled on a small hovel cobbled together from rusted sheets of metal and other discarded scraps.
The man took a deep breath and sighed. His black hat vanished, revealing a handsome, sharp-featured face. There were fine lines on his forehead and a few strands of grey threaded through his black hair.
He chuckled again. "You asked what I wanted," he said, his gaze returning to Leo.
"Well, you could call me a scholar," the man said with a smile. "I study Specters. More specifically, the powers they can bestow upon humans."
"I said I'm not buying anything!" Leo shouted.
The man sighed again, a gust of pure exasperation.
"I am a consultant for several Flux Manufacturers. Vector Industries is one of my clients," he said, slowly raising his right index finger.
A sphere of bloody, metallic tools materialized above his fingertip, whirling in a tight, silent vortex.
Leo’s jaw went slack. A fire ignited in his eyes.
"You're… a Flux Conduit?!" he breathed, his voice filled with shock and awe.
The man chuckled. "I was, in the past," he said, and the tools vanished. "Nowadays, I'm just a researcher."
Leo stared, still mesmerized.
"Okay," he said slowly. "So, what do you have to sell?"
The man snorted. "I'm not here to sell you anything."
"I'm here because my friend at Vector Industries contacted me. They don't know what kind of power you've acquired, or which Echo it comes from. My friend knows I have an interest in such anomalies, so he told me about you."
A knot of anxiety tightened in Leo's stomach. This sounded like the prelude to being strapped to a table in some dark laboratory.
The man saw the apprehension on Leo's face and barely suppressed a groan.
"I'm not here to hurt you!" he snapped, his patience fraying. "I'm just here to observe how your powers work. If they prove useful, I will even refer you to some Flux Manufacturers!"
"This is a good thing for you!"
Leo was stunned for a moment, but his expression quickly hardened back into skepticism. Not even a child would fall for that.
"And what do you want in exchange?" he asked.
"In exchange?" the man repeated. "Do you honestly think you have anything I could possibly want?"
Leo’s mind raced, but he came up empty.
"Nothing in this world is free," Leo said, his voice dripping with suspicion. "Anything advertised as 'free' just means they haven't told you the price yet."
The man's expression went completely deadpan. "Oh my fucking god," he muttered in exasperation.
In a blink, he was standing directly in front of Leo.
He struck Leo sharply on the side of the head. Leo crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
"Is it so hard to accept that someone just wants to help you?!"
The man took another deep, calming breath and sighed.
The whirling ball of bloody tools reappeared before him.
"Now, let's see what kind of power you have."